15 Miles: The Heist
Season 2: Shadows Rising
By Rapwizzy Debaron
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Chapter 80: Season 2 – Episode 23
The Architects
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Night had fallen, but the sky refused to sleep.
A rift shimmered above the city like a bleeding wound in space—black lightning flashing in pulses, as if something massive was breathing just beyond the veil. The object that had landed in Blackridge was no ordinary ship. It was a construct of jagged obsidian and white-hot veins, like a cathedral built from nightmare.
Julian stood at the Resistance's main lookout point, binoculars in hand. "They're not just sending a message. They're sending a warning."
Behind him, Eve's voice trembled. "The Saros weren't prisoners. They were guardians. The Architects are the real threat."
Reese loaded a rail gun with practiced hands. "Great. So we broke the lock on the vault, and now the real monsters want their toys back."
Julian turned. "Then we fight. With whatever we have left."
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Inside the Citadel Ship
Far inside the alien vessel, glowing glyphs rearranged into faces—angular, emotionless, ancient. The Architects stood motionless like statues of war, bathed in a metallic mist. One of them—taller than the rest, with light burning from within—spoke with a voice that echoed through systems, satellites, and even the minds of psychically tuned beings on Earth.
> "Saros disobeyed. They altered the genetic code. They chose… emotion."
> "They must be erased."
A second Architect lifted a sphere—a memory node stolen from Earth centuries ago.
> "The Gatekeeper's heir leads them now."
> "Destroy him."
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Resistance HQ – Underground Briefing Room
Julian studied blueprints of the Architect ship with Maya and Eve. "There's a power core here," Maya said, pointing. "If we can detonate from inside, we might be able to delay their full landing."
"Delay," Eve muttered. "Not stop."
"We just need time," Julian said. "Time for Saros to fully recover. Time to unite what's left of the factions. Time to show these invaders that Earth isn't theirs."
Reese stormed in. "Too late for quiet plans. We've got movement."
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Blackridge – Outskirts
Massive constructs—half-machine, half-biological—emerged from the Architect ship. Walking weapons with skeletal wings and energy cannons for arms. One of them emitted a pulse that melted metal, another cloaked itself and disappeared.
The Resistance launched countermeasures. Drones swarmed. Pulse mines exploded. But it wasn't enough.
Julian and his team fought from the front line, flanked by two Saros warriors whose weapons were shaped from light and thought. Their cooperation was uneasy… but necessary.
A beast leapt toward Eve. Julian tackled her out of the way as a Saros warrior impaled the creature midair with a blade of memory-formed light.
"Don't thank me," the alien said, voice flat. "This is my war too."
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The Vision
As Julian engaged an Architect sentinel hand-to-hand, his vision blurred. Suddenly, he was somewhere else—a place between realities.
Floating.
Burning.
He saw the Earth from above. Then… ruins. Fire. Silence.
A voice echoed in his mind—not human, not Saros.
> "You are the fulcrum. You carry the code. You carry choice."
Then nothing.
He snapped back into his body, heart racing.
Reese pulled him up. "You good?"
Julian nodded slowly. "No. But I know what we have to do."
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Back at HQ
Julian stood before the remaining Resistance and the Saros survivors.
"We face extinction," he said, voice hard. "But we face it together. The Architects want to erase what we are because we chose to feel, to think, to change. They want a world of order."
He looked at the Saros leader. "But we're not built for cages anymore."
The Saros warrior stepped forward. "Then we rewrite the code."
They all nodded.
One last chance.
One final mission.
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To be continued…
🔥 The final plan begins. The Architects will regret awakening a w
orld that refuses to kneel. Stay locked in for Episode 24 of 15 Miles: The Heist – Season 2: Shadows Rising by Rapwizzy Debaron.